New cats, advice on cat litter and quality food please

gettingready

GwylimT wrote: »

If a cat has a dry diet to avoid dehydration they need to drink around 500ml per day,

500ml is 0.5 litre, this is not correct.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/cat/jcoates/2013/april/how-much-do-cats-need-to-drink-30049

It is actually much less than that as per link above.

WeAreGhosts

another decent food i had forgotten about until this morning when i came across some in the cat food box ...

Wainwrights, from Pets At Home. It is a bit pricey at £5.59 for a box of 12, 85g pouches, but i am giving just a half each day at the moment so its not too bad. they are sometimes on offer too. they also do biscuits but i havent tried those.
gotta say though, the meat goes down well with my cat because it is pate-like but the smell makes me heave .... though not as bad as the Bozita!!

WeAreGhosts

CP26 wrote: »

P.s I emailed Thrive as in their FAQs they offer the opportunity to get a free sample. They sent me 4 tins which I thought was very generous of them particularly as the postage was then a couple of pounds on top.

have just emailed them, thanks


i am having a splurge on zooplus cos my cat has been on Hills now for 3 months and it isnt making any difference.

so, going to try:
Smilla Light dry
Meowing Heads dry
Almo Nature dry
Cosma freeze dried snacks

the only wet food she will eat is fish. as long as the biscuits are meat-based does it matter that she only eats fish?

rising_from_the_ashes

barefootmama wrote: »

The kitten cries for food constantly and has a full tummy.

Sorry to sound cheeky - but how do you know she's full?

Kittens will go through growth spurts and will eat absolutely mountains of food then!

As GwylimT says, they really should have unrestricted access to food - they won't eat more than they need

barefootmama wrote: »

Poor baby and her pink eyes, i've put some biokat fine litter in my shopping basket on zooplus. I've added a mat, 2 scoops and nail clippers. Is there anything else you'd recommend to get me up for free shipping? How do you purchase the loyalty discount thing?

The discount thing will show up when you go through the checkout stage - it will be there as an additional option - I can't remember if it's the 1st / 2nd order but I know a lot of 'new to the site' people have had it.

Also - there's cashback available through either TopCashBack or Quidco. Only 3% but def worth having!

I'd probably try a couple of the wet food trial packs - most have a mixed pack of say 6 x 200g tins so not too much if they don't like it

If you've not got a scratching post, I got this one the other day & it's great value - really tall so will let the adult have a good stretch http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/scratching_posts/scratching_posts/33681

barefootmama wrote: »

i have bored everyone in my life with cat talk since getting these girls so it's nice to be able to ask other cat owners questions

Ahhhhhhh see they've worked their magic and turned you into a dedicated slave already!;)

WeAreGhosts wrote: »

i am having a splurge on zooplus cos my cat has been on Hills now for 3 months and it isnt making any difference.

the only wet food she will eat is fish. as long as the biscuits are meat-based does it matter that she only eats fish?

Funnily enough, Archie (who has never been ill a day in his 9 years!) ended up at the emergency vet at the weekend

I struggle to keep his weight up and he's lost again (not related to his illness) - he wasn't eating so went to PAH and looked for something to tempt him (he likes small chunks in gravy). Got some Hills Science Plan and he loves it!

He had 4 pouches on Tuesday - he's never eaten more than 2 before! He had 3 yesterday too!

I know it's not great but atm it's more important that I get him to eat something & try to get him back to full health - his diet was never great to start with (Gourmet Perle is the only other wet he'll eat - so sure it's not that much worse!)


Mia will only eat wet with fish - again, it doesn't thrill me BUT if it's that or dry, then I'll take her eating the fish anyday

barefootmama

Kitten is sneezing today. I wonder if this is also linked to the Tesco dusty litter as she's otherwise still running around playing. I've ordered 2 new litters to try from zooplus and i can't wait till they arrive. Her pink eyes started after she had her flea and worming spot-on from the vet, it was the same time i changed the litter though so i'm not sure the source of the problem. The cat hasn't had the spot on and her eyes are fine, but she also hardly ever uses the litter tray.

Kitten's like a human baby wanting to eat all the time, including during the night, and poos after every meal. I'm not getting much sleep at all which i didn't expect at this stage.

The side of the packet says she should be eating X grams a day and she will eat that in a couple of meals (Her tummy became so big that i started measuring how much i was giving her). We had a cat who (although much older) used to eat until he vomited so i thought she could over eat too.

Cat seems to be so used to the kitten food she was fed by her previous owner that she won't eat adult cat food. The only thing she's eating now is chicken breast, poached salmon and this evening was my gammon for tea. I've ordered Smilla and some others so hopefully they both like at least one of them as i want them off the Whiskas/GoCrap asap.

WeAreGhosts

barefootmama wrote: »

The side of the packet says she should be eating X grams a day and she will eat that in a couple of meals (Her tummy became so big that i started measuring how much i was giving her). We had a cat who (although much older) used to eat until he vomited so i thought she could over eat too.

good luck with the Zooplus order hope they like something.

i would definitely recommend keeping to weighing out food. i have done it for about three months now and it is easier than having to remember whether my cat has eaten too much/too little etc. i weigh out biscuits into an old ice cream tub each evening for the following days supply.

barefootmama

The Zooplus order has arrived. Both cats love the Applaws kibble with no tummy problems at all, i'm really pleased to have found a healthier dry food for them. For the first time ever Kitten didn't have to run to the litter tray after eating!

As for wet food previously they'd had Whiskas a few times. At first it was fine and they both wolfed it down, but after a couple of meals on it Kitten had blood in her poo on two occassions when eating it so i think she's allergic to something in it. This made me a bit hesitant with wet food. Today she had a little bit of Smilla with no problems, she had another bigger portion of Smilla this evening and did have runny poo but not as bad on the previous foods she was on. So far Cat has had no problems with any of the foods so i'm just pleased she's going along with whatever is on offer.

As for cat lit i've put the Cat's Best Oko Plus in the second tray and neither will use it.

I also rather naively bought a reduced harness thinking i could train the kitten to wear it for going out in the garden and to the vets on the lead but she was not at all impressed. I thought being young she'd accept it more but this feisty ragdoll knows what she wants! Oh and thanks for the tip on trimming hair around the bottom, this has worked wonders

Richtea78

Try mixing the new cat litter with some of the old, that worked for my cat

rising_from_the_ashes

barefootmama wrote: »

The Zooplus order has arrived. Both cats love the Applaws kibble with no tummy problems at all, i'm really pleased to have found a healthier dry food for them. For the first time ever Kitten didn't have to run to the litter tray after eating!

Fantastic news! :T

barefootmama wrote: »

Today she had a little bit of Smilla with no problems, she had another bigger portion of Smilla this evening and did have runny poo but not as bad on the previous foods she was on. So far Cat has had no problems with any of the foods so i'm just pleased she's going along with whatever is on offer.

Quite a lot of the better quality foods (Smilla, Animonda Carny, some of the ones from Happy Kitty Company etc) contain fairly high quantities of offal

While this is fine & good for them to get a more balanced diet, it can take a bit of adjusting for their tummies so I'd always introduce these gradually

Mia had a really 'iffy' tummy with wet foods when she was very little - but grew out of it and is fine with most now - however, even she can't eat Smila / AC for more than one meal in a row without a runny bum so we avoid it. She is fine with the ones from the HKC for some reason - it must be the amount / type of offal used.

pinkteapot

Re litter, a colleague recommended OkoPlus Cat's Best litter to us and we absolutely love it. Available from Pets at Home if you want to try some off the high street, but quite a bit cheaper from Zooplus.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/cat/cat-litter/cat-litter-21103--1/oko-wood-litter-30l

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/cats_best/14001

The previous owner of our cat had used a non-clumping litter with him, so we stuck with it for a while, then switched him.

Clumping is amazing! We used to go through loads of litter scooping all the wet bits of the non-clumping one out, plus the fact the whole tray needs changing weekly with non-clumping.

With clumping, the pee makes a ball that scoops out easily and there's no wastage. We scoop twice a day and only top up the litter a couple of times a week. Also, it only needs completely replacing every 4-6 weeks. With the old litter, we'd go through a big sack in a couple of weeks. With this one, we're barely halfway through a big bag after six weeks or so.

We like this one because it's scent-free. Some of the clumping ones have natural pine smells etc and I don't want the litter tray rooms smelling like a forest.